About Eleanor Armstrong (Newton), "Mayflower" Passenger

Birth: Probably about 1582

Marriage:

John Billington, probably about 1603.

Gregory Armstrong, between 14 and 21 September 1638.

Death: Last known to be living on 2 March 1642/3.

Children: John and Francis.

The Billington family may have originated from around Cowbit and Spaulding, in Lincolnshire, England. Eleanor came to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620 with husband John, and children John and Francis. Eleanor was one of only five adult women to survive the first winter, and one of only four who was still alive to partake in the famous 1621 Thanksgiving.

Her family is remembered as rather ill-behaved, however. Just after arrival, young Francis Billington shot off his father's musket in the Mayflower's cabin, showering sparks around open barrels of gunpowder, nearly causing a catastrophe. A few months later in March 1621, husband John was brought before the company for "contempt of the Captain's lawful command with opprobrious speeches", and was sentenced to have his neck and heels tied together: "but upon humbling himself and craving pardon, and it being the first offence, he is forgiven." Son John wandered off in May 1621, and was brought by Nauset Indians to Cape Cod, where he was later retrieved. In 1624, husband John Billington was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford scandal (a failed revolt against the Plymouth church), but he played ignorant and was never officially punished for involvement. In 1630, Eleanor's husband shot and killed John Newcomen, and he was hanged for the murder in September 1630.

Eleanor herself was not exempt from ill-behavior, as she was sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane in 1636. Two years later Eleanor remarried, to Gregory Armstrong, but had no additional children.

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Eleanor Longland came in 1620 with her husband, John, on the Mayflower. In 1636 Eleanor was fined and sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane.

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BILLINGTON, ELEANOR -The wife of John Billington, Eleanor was with him in 1620 on the Mayflower. Her maiden name is not known, though some have speculated that it might have been Newton, since her son Francis inherited land in Lincolnshire, England, with a co-heir named Newton. However, Billington researcher Harriett Hodge thinks that the surname could be Longland. On 1636 Eleanor was fined 45 and sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane (PCR 1:42). She was married between 28th August 1638 and 21st September 1638 to (2) Gregory Armstrong (PCR 12:33. 37), but there is no record of her having any children by him.

Source: Plymouth Colony Its History & People 1620-1691 by Eugene Aubrey Stratton

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BILLINGTON, ELEANOR -The wife of John Billington, Eleanor was with him in 1620 on the Mayflower. Her maiden name is not known, though some have speculated that it might have been Newton, since her son Francis inherited land in Lincolnshire, England, with a co-heir named Newton. However, Billington researcher Harriett Hodge thinks that the surname could be Longland. On 1636 Eleanor was fined 45 and sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane (PCR 1:42). She was married between 28th August 1638 and 21st September 1638 to (2) Gregory Armstrong (PCR 12:33. 37), but there is no record of her having any children by him.

Source: Plymouth Colony Its History & People 1620-1691 by Eugene Aubrey Stratton

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The Billington family may have originated from around Cowbit and Spaulding, in Lincolnshire, England, where Francis Longland named young Francis Billington son of John Billington an heir. In 1650, a survey indicated that Francis Billington was then in New England. However, research has thus far failed to turn up any other records of the family's residence there.

In 1636, wife Eleanor (sometimes Helen) was sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane. Eleanor would later remarry to Gregory Armstrong in 1638.